us to fill those empty places, so the biggest challenge is the kindergartens, that is where we are. my point is that slovakia, right now, appears united behind your government s stand on ukraine but there is still an anti us, sceptical element. that is because of russian propaganda. well, no, i looked at opinion polls before the invasion began which suggested that there was a clear preponderance of people in this country who blame nato rather than putin, for his intentions. that was the influence of decades in slovakia that the governments tolerated russian propaganda. this war is such a wake up call for slovakia but for the whole region. my point is that you are vulnerable, still. here is what cyber advisors, a defence minister in bratislava said, he said that in slovakia, there is a wide
network of disinformation websites, so called influencers, which the kremlin regime has quietly and strategically cultivated here in slovakia. it is a network, it is intricate, well organised and coordinated, and our population in slovakia is not prepared for the potential of russia s psychological military operations. is that true? slovakia are strong leaders. of course, we as a neighbour, one example i will show you, how we can see how important it is for a country like ours to be in an alliance. when we were in nato, we don t have f 16s, fighterjets, we have those obsolete migs, we have not procured other equipment, but as this war started, immediately, germany, netherlands, czech republic, slovenia and also other countries said we will provide soldiers, we will help you to protect your eastern border,
of arms supplies. is slovakia, right now, prepared to send heavy weapons, including howitzers that are made in slovakia, direct to zelensky. absolutely. as i said, our position is very clear. it goes back to the value. i m sorry that i repeated again, but i want everybody to understand. we are in a war, it is brutal, killing people, we haven t had that in europe for over 70 years, we forgot, and now we see the brutality. i don t want any of european citizens to be killed by some dictator who decides that he is going to kill innocent people in the streets. it is ridiculous. 21st century. that is why i said, whatever they request, we will happily help them, gladly.
bow to russia s demand that we pay roubles? i will actually add to it, that the initiative that he will play in euros was made by slovakia. where it was that friday when we called all of the countries and said that we need to stay united, and we need to stay the payments with euros, and we need to stay in the payments with euros, so it was us who initiated it and i am so glad and for us, as a landlocked country, so dependent, because you must understand now the pipes from russia go to slovakia then go to western countries. we were for years, decades, we were responsible and reliable partner in delivering the gas to the other countries. that s what we need now, if the flow turns, we have got to be at the end and we say,
it, and work with it, but as i said, we have to evolve. the united states and great britain, politicians there are now saying that they believe that this war, which is currently in ukraine, but who knows where it is going to end, will last for years, possibly as long as a decade. is slovakia, a front line state in all of this, is it ready for that? mentally or economically, or militarily, mentally? what are you asking? i am ready. economically, we are going to see many difficulties. we have just now proved five crucial reforms because of the recovery plan over the last year, and militarily, we received a lot of equipment from our allies, but we have to procure, we have to put much more money into defence. yes, we must be ready to do it, of course we are not ready physically yet, but like i said, it starts with the decision, because we do not have another choice. if you want to keep